Argh... I wish I had time to enter this month's display! Maybe I can whip
something up during Thanksgiving break... After all of my midterms and papers
are done with... (and while procrastinating on studying for finals... )
I also just noticed this (okay, I'm slow) but both of the winning submissions
for the last display have a mermaid theme!
ahh! must draw for this contest too! ^^ *grabs pencil* time for my
4 hours of whack-head-off-table-happy-drawing-time! And to think... I have been
reduced to this... ^^ *teeheehee*
I'll be counting on peg chan once again to update the page design and the
scroll-bar winners .
Thanks a lot.
New display is open (oops, i forgot to input the dates... done), it's the last
one of the year, and then we have something very big in the box for you, so i
hope everyone can enjoy the last display and the event(s) to come.
Yeah.. actually I have to agree with you though I mentioned have fun, butI still realize that I still wanna
improve my drawing no matter what. ^^ But we almost missed some more things
though.
That is.. not a lot of people can draw. *receive cold chills* I mean, yea, well,
if you compare these 2 comparisons you'll pretty much get what I mean:
1. ask a 15 year old guy to wall an anime scan
2. ask a 15 year old guy to draw
Basically, 2 is definitely out of question since drawing takes quite a lifetime
to practice.
I would say these are also another factors why doujins aren't really that much
appreciated:
1. Quote from my friend - Drawing is a kind of talent.
2. From Honey and Clover II chapter 7 - Kaoru gets envious with Shinobu and his
dad because they've got talents while he had nothing. Quote: Dad, I was always envious of my little brother. And, I was envious
of you." - Morita Kaoru
3. From Honey and Clover II chapter 11 - Quote:
Talent... everyone arbitrarily loves, hates and curses others for that. And in
the end, they all quietly drift away." - Morita Shinobu
So... it's pretty much the same thing. But ehh.. please don't take this
seriously I'm just saying that.. well.. some people... tend to escape and avoid
getting involved in something they're not good at. Something like that. *gaah,
H&C just explains the truth and touches people with it, sobs*
And one more thing... this might hurt a bit, but.. most of those doujin artists
who're considered graduated from DSC
aren't really that supportive. *Ittai!* They've gotten pretty much independent,
I guess. *Shiku shiku shiku* How it saddens me to be thinking like
that.
BUT! I don't care how much underappreciated we get, we STILL draw, out of LOVE!
*gosh that sentence makes me sick *
So, I just wanna tell everyone here that... if you like to draw even if you suck
at it, keep on with it. You'll begin to realize that once you start to draw with
a constant interest, you'll definitely improve. Find some manga-ka styles that
you like, learn some drawings from each scans that you download. Make drawing
your daily homework. I can guarantee you, you'll improve. Don't draw if you
don't love drawing. It'll make you suffer.
Hey anybody knows if i can join this club? i wouldn't mind doing a little cool
drawings of my own and coloring. well if i can join please write back to me.
* Edited 11:39 AM Manila time, re: added a tidbit for animefreak223 about Seelenschatten, an
indy anime movie project created by MT's very own harakiri! Premiering soon! ^^^
*
lol! First off, I'd like to apologize first for the longish posts. It's just
that... ok, cue mushy music... when I'm virtually here with you, speakers of
dream, the words and ideas just flow out of my fingers! And
the problem is that now I'm thinking that I might be not communicating myself
welll, and that maybe I'm dominating the discussion too much with the
verbosity...
Anyway, here goes...........
For animefreak223, MapleRose, Ephemeral-Garden,
gabri3la:
Maybe at first glance your posts can be seen as not flowing into one another.
animefreak223 and gabri3la advertised their respective groups' activities while
MapleRose and ephie were talking about ways to increase the visibility of the
DSC Display and to increase support for doujinshi by way of the Display.
But why do I see connections (or maybe am I just being delusional)? I see
animefreak223's effort at creating Animators, your new MT group as
possibly another oblique way of supporting
doujinshi -- though just a suggestion: maybe you could somehow make it
clear in your group's userpage that you wish to support doujinshi/indy art or in
your own words, "animators"?
I do respect your decision to put Animators in the Anime group category, but
wouldn't that indicate your desire to prioritize talking more about
anime/animators in general rather than indy art?
Oooh, I almost forgot: animefreak223, if you're also interested in knowing more
about "independent animation", why don't you check out harakiri, an MT doujin artist and his
indy anime project?
According to his website, he will finish Seelenschatten
(translated: 'soul shadows') by October 23... so wow! Indy anime needs support,
wow? Wow, now I'm all fired up! Ready the popcorn and pineapple juice!
(T_T... why you leave DSC, harakiri? But thanks so much for still speaking your
dreams! Come to think of it, there have been some DSC members who have removed
themselves from the group list anyways... to enumerate some names, Nuriko,
harakiri, DREAM and maybe some others, but anyway, back on topic!) ^_~
Anyway, while waiting for his reply, the number of MT groups that mainly support
doujinshi/indy art is now seven! (I hope I am mistaken here, and please tell me
if there's something missing!)
(1) Doujinshi-Support-Club
(2) Doujin-Arena
(3) Canvas, the oldest doujin group
(it's inactive now)
(4) Deviants, doujin/indy artists
who are also deviantART members (the largest art community on the web,
supposedly)
(5) Artists-Viewers-United
(6) New-Mangaka-Generation
(7) UniversalMangaProyect
For gabri3la:
You know........ looking at Cute-Wallies' Avatar
Contest is really really really reminding me of a certain project that we're
('we' refers to names of people who I've consulted with) talking about in PMs.
Since obviously there are lots of contests and events and the MT Mascot contest
still going on and now we in the DSC are prepping for the big Special Display
events, I don't want to impinge on them since they do deserve attention too. So
I hesitate proposing it openly in the fora and in the various MT groups/people
that/who might be interested in it.
The project I'm talking about shares with your contest our love for avatars, which of course embodies our selves
or aspect/s of our selves in a virtual/image form. It also seeks to merge the
creative efforts of doujinshi artists and avatar makers! Also, it attempts to
draw in the participation of doujinshi artists who are considered to be
less-skilled when compared to MT doujin standards and commonly-upheld standards
and tastes of MT doujin lovers. And the idea is almost 2 years old, so that
means it's aged well?
Think "Doujinshi Avatar", gabri3la? Anyway,
if you or anyone is interested in supporting
doujinshi in yet another oblique way, then please happily contact me!
*hides from people whom I still owe GB/PM replies, lol! Sorry, I get distracted
easily!*
For MapleRose and Ephemeral-Garden:
I agree, ephie! Maybe just having fun and loving and sharing art is perhaps what
matters in the end. But it wouldn't hurt if we critically look at why doujinshi
is still underappreciated (taking into
account that you guys still feel that way):
Nostalgia!
Quote by very, very very, very ooooold post on
DSC
Thoughts on Why Doujinshi is Underappreciated in Minitokyo!
... Here are my not-so-substantive theories on why doujinshi is underappreciated
in the site:
(1) Too few MT groups that encourage people to draw --
Canvas is one group that has a lot of members, but I heard that Cloudnine is not
around anymore. No group admin, no activities, no life. Death.
And I just browsed the groups pages for other drawing/doujinshi groups, and
Canvas seems to be the only one. Compare this with millions of MT walling
groups... haha, exaggeration. Truly, that is the reason why doujin can't compete
with walls. ^^
(2) Lack of promotion from members and mods/admin --
Maybe it's also a bit of fault from members that they are not promoting hard and
wide enough on doujinshi. Also, how many mods are doujinshi artists? There's
Nuriko and Osiris, but basically they have their hands full on site
maintenance.
(3) A widespread perception that Minitokyo is primarily a wallpaper community
only --
i just had this little PM discussion with a certain MT member (who was kind
enough to comment on the Doujin/Caption/CG-Wall contest; but I am not naming
her/him out of respect) and he/she told me flatly that Minitokyo *is* a
wallpaper community. I debated with him/her on that, like the Support Pages at
least say that MT is an indy art and wallpaper community. Also, that maybe it's
only a perception, not a fact.
(4) Most MT Doujinshi artists suck in drawing (ouch ouch!) --
Well, I have to admire this particular MT member for putting it out front and
frankly: that most doujinshi art is not up-to-par or good enough in terms of
quality and concept. Ouch really. But I feel that this comment has to be taken
critically and seriously, and it would not help to take it as a flame. The
comment needs to be reflected on.
... maybe we could review this old post and see if some of what it asserts is
still valid? Ooooooo! You know, you know, maybe we could really really get
in-depth with the discussion and talk it over on a forum thread! Say, the title
of said forum thread is The State/s of
Doujinshi in Minitokyo: A Discussion, perhaps mirroring what this
thread attempts to do with the state of the MT forums, ne?
Lol, again sorry for babbling too much... and awaiting your opinions! ^^^
That's good one, maple. It really makes me wonder how come even scans are ever
so popular compared to doujins.
But anyways, let's not let that get into us and keep drawing as usual! I mean,
why don't we take the time to improve ourselves instead right? Afterall, anime
is all about drawing. So lets just enjoy ourselves~
Thanks firefly for the support, and i actually think that a PM harrassing won't
help at all, since the announcement is already a PM to all members (otherwise,
we could do some 'announcement-spam', which would definitely prove
counter-productive i think).
Anyway, chara, reading your post, i just thought of a 3rd division for the end
of year : adding to 'year-round display', 'new prodigy display', here comes the
'outside reality display', which is for non-DSC members to join and participate
in. That would imply some good harrassing / organization, but if there's enough
back-up crew and support, i definitely think we can do it. We still have about a
month and a half to get it under way, so i'm counting on everyone willing to
help.
Oh, and those are not finalized ideas, so pour in yours as well (thanks chara
for the reaction, i'm looking forward to more of those ).
*lol, sorry, fireflywishes, for posting this ugly thing after your "Go go
go vote!" post! Hey, let's go go go vote!*
* Musical accompaniment from Believe of One
Piece highly recommended while enduring this read! *please check the DSC
email thing! *
I also feel sad that the entries for the display are not being given the
appreciation they deserve because of the small/declining number of people
voting. Does it reveal, as staokmuoryao shared with us, that few people know
about this DSC activity and/or a lot of people are too lazy to go out and check
the entries out and cast their votes because of [insert various reasons here]?
Probably. I think there are a lot of reasons why people don't go out and vote in
the display -- busy with this, busy with that, distracted with this, distracted
with that, prioritizing this, prioritizing that. I understand all of that, since
right now I still have some pending commitments re: doujin-related
promotion/projects, and I'm having trouble keeping up with them all! But I could
suggest other ways to garner more support for the Display, like:
(1) opening the voting to all Minitokyo denizens, not just for the club
members
(2) letting non-DSC artist-members enter the display
(3) those organizing the display would have to go the extra mile to do
PM-bugging for all 300+ DSC members
(4) thinking of certain yummy incentives ('carrots') to give to
voters/participants to encourage them to join up
(5) setting stringent policies in the club ('sticks') to remind DSC people of
their responsibilities to the club
... but you know, I don't want to go into a discussion on my suggestions above.
I especially hate the (4) and (5) suggestions anyway.
But I'd really love to approach the issue from other oblique angles; personally,
I don't feel the lack of voting/participants as signs that people are not
interested in supporting doujinshi/indy art and artists. Support and
appreciation of doujinshi has come a long way since the days when the DSC was
first started; back then, it was a rare event to see a doujinshi splayed on the
Minitokyo front page; now, thanks to the efforts of some Minitokyo members with
the behest of the moderators, we can now see indy art featured on it. Also,
while I was scanning for MT groups that are/may support indy art, I noticed that
they are plenty of these groups who have set up/are setting up doujinshi
contests as part of their own activities.
Maybe joining the DSC, keeping the club alive via the Display activity, creating
banners for the club, submitting/sharing your art, commenting on others' art,
suggesting doujinshi to be displayed on the MT front page, etc. are only the
obvious ways -- and not the only ways --
to support doujinshi?
I'm here (and I'm out there in other places in this virtual space called MT and
out there in that terrible/beautiful thing called the Offline World) because
I support doujinshi and independent art.
I talk to doujin artists and share with them some ideas on promoting doujinshi
and artists, although they're kinda crazy/weird/seemingly-antagonistic to
others, like the "MT Doujin Artists' Response to the MT Mascot" thing
[which I'm sad to report that it's not going well because (1) I have yet to get
responses from some people I PM'd on that; (2) others are too busy/committed
with other work; (3) one commented that the project might be viewed that we
don't accept the MT Mascot, if taken 'too seriously' (which I somewhat agree,
too)'; (4) others have been taken aback by the deletions in their galleries due
to the changes in the MT Policy re: 'deletion due to mature content' and
'minimum pixel requirements' that they lost the mood to contribute any more art
to Minitokyo and subsequently lost the mood to do anything for the community;
and (5) lol, maybe I'm forcing the issue too much and I should really ignore the
whole "why weren't MT doujin artists given the chance to design the Mascot
thing?" because (6) apparently many artists are also keeping mum/silent on
it and they think it will just go away sooner or later because the Mascot thing
seems to be just an insider-slash-'MT Top Level'-slash-income-generating-project
instead of being community-involvement-oriented anyway and it seems to be not
having a big impact on its artists; and so on so forth reasons I thought of and
I got from the artists' reactions from my PM campaign, lol! But anyway, I'll try
one last round to convince/bug people about it!] ... And I don't feel too
presumptuous when I say/type that you guys are also here because you yourselves
are supporters of independent art/doujinshi (lol, that's a bit circular, but
hey!). By speaking your dreams, as speakers of dream, as weavers of images and
words, as artists, you/we have decided to join this club because you/I wish to
share your 'spoken dreams' with others, and talk about how to make that
'sharing' grow.
- song intermission! - dare ni mo mienai yume no KATACHI o
tsukamaete tsukamaeteku
watashi wa tsuite yuku kara
atsui KIMOCHI
TSUJITSUMA awase betsuni iranai
arifureta nichijou yori mo
PARADISE mezashite hashire
Believe in Wonderland
- continue! -
Maybe... and these are just my opinions, please do contradict me if you don't
agree with me or if you find it too weird... instead maybe of waiting for the
people to come and appreciate indy art, maybe we ourselves would have to step up and find out and do ways to
support doujinshi? "Diversifying and not just increasing? Growing sideways,
not just upwards? Sharing in the creation of art, not just receiving praise for
it?" I'd like to come back to an earlier proposal I made, which was to
start forum threads/discussions on ways on how
we can support doujinshi.
Hey, let's be proud in saying this -- we are all creative people! (lol, that
sounded mushy, but really, it's mushingly true!) It's gonna be easy for us to
identify, suggest and find out those ways! There might already be other people
who are doing other ways of supporting doujinshi/indy art, be it here online or
out there offline, right?
Lol, sorry if this sounds too arrogant/overbearing/presumptuous/preachy!
Definitely not my intent. 'Looking forward to hear your thoughts on the
"How can I, you and we support doujinshi?" thread/diversification of
DSC activities proposal!
Anyway, I'll randomly end with a quote from an Ursula K. Le Guin essay titled
"Where Do You Get your Ideas From?". To paraphrase, "All artists
are egoists. They can't be altruists and get their work done." They/we love
to be praised, to be seen, to be loved. Everyone wants to be noticed. Who
doesn't? But then she adds, "... [the writer, the artist] cannot do it
alone. The unread story [and the unseen or unshared art, in this case] is not a
story, [and not art]. It is little marks on wood pulp [and magnetic imprints on
computer storage devices projected as millions of colors on a computer screen,
in our case]. The reader [and the viewer] makes it live: a live thing, a story,
[art]." Shall we start finding out more ways to share, then?
C'mon minna-san! It doesn't take that much effort to vote, does it? Let's set a
record for votes for this display! I would
offer to tabulate the votes, but I am so code illiterate that I'd probably screw
up the page...
yay new layout!
luvin the new layout! its really prtty.
ive got a new doujin (old actually but newly scanned) painting:
The Eerie Green
Argh... I wish I had time to enter this month's display! Maybe I can whip something up during Thanksgiving break... After all of my midterms and papers are done with... (and while procrastinating on studying for finals...
)
I also just noticed this (okay, I'm slow) but both of the winning submissions for the last display have a mermaid theme!
ahh!
must draw for this contest too! ^^ *grabs pencil* time for my
4 hours of whack-head-off-table-happy-drawing-time! And to think... I have been
reduced to this... ^^ *teeheehee*
here goes another artwork of mine! Please take a look!
My new doujinshi!
GoodNight Song
chara invited me for promoting my animated movie here. I hope you all don't mind a bit promotion from an ex-member xD
As chara already said in a previous post, I have made an indy anime. You can watch it here:
Soul Shadows Official Homepage
I hope you'll enjoy it and let me know whether you liked it or not.
Congratulations to the winners! *clap clap clap etc* ^^
I'll update the page as soon as I can!
I'm a bit busy at the moment
This is my new fanart. This time it is Sasuke from Naruto.
Links:http://gallery.minitokyo.net/view/259920/
Hope you like it! This time well I use a different style of drawing and colouring.
I'll be counting on peg chan once again to update the page design and the scroll-bar winners
.
Thanks a lot.
New display is open (oops, i forgot to input the dates... done), it's the last one of the year, and then we have something very big in the box for you, so i hope everyone can enjoy the last display and the event(s) to come.
My newest art :
yayaya
Wonder
Wonder by dothaithanh
I really like it
*hands cookies to char-chan*
Long post, whoa.
Yeah.. actually I have to agree with you though I mentioned have fun, butI still realize that I still wanna improve my drawing no matter what. ^^ But we almost missed some more things though.
That is.. not a lot of people can draw. *receive cold chills* I mean, yea, well, if you compare these 2 comparisons you'll pretty much get what I mean:
1. ask a 15 year old guy to wall an anime scan
2. ask a 15 year old guy to draw
Basically, 2 is definitely out of question since drawing takes quite a lifetime to practice.
I would say these are also another factors why doujins aren't really that much appreciated:
1. Quote from my friend - Drawing is a kind of talent.
2. From Honey and Clover II chapter 7 - Kaoru gets envious with Shinobu and his dad because they've got talents while he had nothing. Quote: Dad, I was always envious of my little brother. And, I was envious of you." - Morita Kaoru
3. From Honey and Clover II chapter 11 - Quote: Talent... everyone arbitrarily loves, hates and curses others for that. And in the end, they all quietly drift away." - Morita Shinobu
So... it's pretty much the same thing. But ehh.. please don't take this seriously I'm just saying that.. well.. some people... tend to escape and avoid getting involved in something they're not good at. Something like that. *gaah, H&C just explains the truth and touches people with it, sobs*
And one more thing... this might hurt a bit, but.. most of those doujin artists who're considered graduated from DSC aren't really that supportive. *Ittai!* They've gotten pretty much independent, I guess. *Shiku shiku shiku* How it saddens me to be thinking like that.
BUT! I don't care how much underappreciated we get, we STILL draw, out of LOVE! *gosh that sentence makes me sick
*
So, I just wanna tell everyone here that... if you like to draw even if you suck at it, keep on with it. You'll begin to realize that once you start to draw with a constant interest, you'll definitely improve. Find some manga-ka styles that you like, learn some drawings from each scans that you download. Make drawing your daily homework. I can guarantee you, you'll improve. Don't draw if you don't love drawing. It'll make you suffer.
my new doujin:
Chi Ink Sketch
Hey anybody knows if i can join this club? i wouldn't mind doing a little cool drawings of my own and coloring. well if i can join please write back to me.
* Edited 11:39 AM Manila time, re: added a tidbit for animefreak223 about Seelenschatten, an indy anime movie project created by MT's very own harakiri! Premiering soon! ^^^ *
And
the problem is that now I'm thinking that I might be not communicating myself
welll, and that maybe I'm dominating the discussion too much with the
verbosity... 
lol! First off, I'd like to apologize first for the longish posts. It's just that... ok, cue mushy music... when I'm virtually here with you, speakers of dream, the words and ideas just flow out of my fingers!
Anyway, here goes...........
For animefreak223, MapleRose, Ephemeral-Garden, gabri3la:
Maybe at first glance your posts can be seen as not flowing into one another. animefreak223 and gabri3la advertised their respective groups' activities while MapleRose and ephie were talking about ways to increase the visibility of the DSC Display and to increase support for doujinshi by way of the Display.
But why do I see connections (or maybe am I just being delusional)? I see animefreak223's effort at creating Animators, your new MT group as possibly another oblique way of supporting doujinshi -- though just a suggestion: maybe you could somehow make it clear in your group's userpage that you wish to support doujinshi/indy art or in your own words, "animators"? I do respect your decision to put Animators in the Anime group category, but wouldn't that indicate your desire to prioritize talking more about anime/animators in general rather than indy art?
Oooh, I almost forgot: animefreak223, if you're also interested in knowing more about "independent animation", why don't you check out harakiri, an MT doujin artist and his indy anime project? According to his website, he will finish Seelenschatten (translated: 'soul shadows') by October 23... so wow! Indy anime needs support, wow? Wow, now I'm all fired up! Ready the popcorn and pineapple juice!
(T_T... why you leave DSC, harakiri? But thanks so much for still speaking your dreams! Come to think of it, there have been some DSC members who have removed themselves from the group list anyways... to enumerate some names, Nuriko, harakiri, DREAM and maybe some others, but anyway, back on topic!) ^_~
Anyway, while waiting for his reply, the number of MT groups that mainly support doujinshi/indy art is now seven! (I hope I am mistaken here, and please tell me if there's something missing!)
(1) Doujinshi-Support-Club
(2) Doujin-Arena
(3) Canvas, the oldest doujin group (it's inactive now)
(4) Deviants, doujin/indy artists who are also deviantART members (the largest art community on the web, supposedly)
(5) Artists-Viewers-United
(6) New-Mangaka-Generation
(7) UniversalMangaProyect
For gabri3la:
You know........ looking at Cute-Wallies' Avatar Contest is really really really reminding me of a certain project that we're ('we' refers to names of people who I've consulted with) talking about in PMs. Since obviously there are lots of contests and events and the MT Mascot contest still going on and now we in the DSC are prepping for the big Special Display events, I don't want to impinge on them since they do deserve attention too. So I hesitate proposing it openly in the fora and in the various MT groups/people that/who might be interested in it.
The project I'm talking about shares with your contest our love for avatars, which of course embodies our selves or aspect/s of our selves in a virtual/image form. It also seeks to merge the creative efforts of doujinshi artists and avatar makers! Also, it attempts to draw in the participation of doujinshi artists who are considered to be less-skilled when compared to MT doujin standards and commonly-upheld standards and tastes of MT doujin lovers. And the idea is almost 2 years old, so that means it's aged well?
Think "Doujinshi Avatar", gabri3la?
Anyway,
if you or anyone is interested in supporting
doujinshi in yet another oblique way, then please happily contact me!
*hides from people whom I still owe GB/PM replies, lol! Sorry, I get distracted
easily!*
For MapleRose and Ephemeral-Garden:
I agree, ephie! Maybe just having fun and loving and sharing art is perhaps what matters in the end. But it wouldn't hurt if we critically look at why doujinshi is still underappreciated (taking into account that you guys still feel that way):
Nostalgia!
... maybe we could review this old post and see if some of what it asserts is still valid? Ooooooo! You know, you know, maybe we could really really get in-depth with the discussion and talk it over on a forum thread! Say, the title of said forum thread is The State/s of Doujinshi in Minitokyo: A Discussion, perhaps mirroring what this thread attempts to do with the state of the MT forums, ne?
Lol, again sorry for babbling too much... and awaiting your opinions! ^^^
hya
just passing to advertise our Cute-Wallies group
That's good one, maple. It really makes me wonder how come even scans are ever so popular compared to doujins.
But anyways, let's not let that get into us and keep drawing as usual! I mean, why don't we take the time to improve ourselves instead right? Afterall, anime is all about drawing. So lets just enjoy ourselves~
I think people are just lazy... but come on, how hard is it to take a few seconds, look at the wonderful art pieces, and choose your favourite?
I wonder why scans/vectors/wallpapers seem to be more popular than doujins, when it's doujins that take the most effort and creativity (imo anyway)...
I dunno, maybe members who are interested can advertise the voting thing on their pages (if we decide to let non-members vote)...
http://animators.minitokyo.net/#guestbook
JOIN NOW!
GO TO IT NOW YOU WILL
HAVE FUN AS AN ANIMAR!
Ah, I definitely missed those !
Thanks firefly for the support, and i actually think that a PM harrassing won't help at all, since the announcement is already a PM to all members (otherwise, we could do some 'announcement-spam', which would definitely prove counter-productive i think).
Anyway, chara, reading your post, i just thought of a 3rd division for the end of year : adding to 'year-round display', 'new prodigy display', here comes the 'outside reality display', which is for non-DSC members to join and participate in. That would imply some good harrassing / organization, but if there's enough back-up crew and support, i definitely think we can do it. We still have about a month and a half to get it under way, so i'm counting on everyone willing to help.
).
Oh, and those are not finalized ideas, so pour in yours as well (thanks chara for the reaction, i'm looking forward to more of those
*lol, sorry, fireflywishes, for posting this ugly thing after your "Go go go vote!" post! Hey, let's go go go vote!*
* Musical accompaniment from Believe of One Piece highly recommended while enduring this read! *please check the DSC email thing! *
I also feel sad that the entries for the display are not being given the appreciation they deserve because of the small/declining number of people voting. Does it reveal, as staokmuoryao shared with us, that few people know about this DSC activity and/or a lot of people are too lazy to go out and check the entries out and cast their votes because of [insert various reasons here]?
Probably. I think there are a lot of reasons why people don't go out and vote in the display -- busy with this, busy with that, distracted with this, distracted with that, prioritizing this, prioritizing that. I understand all of that, since right now I still have some pending commitments re: doujin-related promotion/projects, and I'm having trouble keeping up with them all! But I could suggest other ways to garner more support for the Display, like:
(1) opening the voting to all Minitokyo denizens, not just for the club members
(2) letting non-DSC artist-members enter the display
(3) those organizing the display would have to go the extra mile to do PM-bugging for all 300+ DSC members
(4) thinking of certain yummy incentives ('carrots') to give to voters/participants to encourage them to join up
(5) setting stringent policies in the club ('sticks') to remind DSC people of their responsibilities to the club
... but you know, I don't want to go into a discussion on my suggestions above. I especially hate the (4) and (5) suggestions anyway.
But I'd really love to approach the issue from other oblique angles; personally, I don't feel the lack of voting/participants as signs that people are not interested in supporting doujinshi/indy art and artists. Support and appreciation of doujinshi has come a long way since the days when the DSC was first started; back then, it was a rare event to see a doujinshi splayed on the Minitokyo front page; now, thanks to the efforts of some Minitokyo members with the behest of the moderators, we can now see indy art featured on it. Also, while I was scanning for MT groups that are/may support indy art, I noticed that they are plenty of these groups who have set up/are setting up doujinshi contests as part of their own activities.
Maybe joining the DSC, keeping the club alive via the Display activity, creating banners for the club, submitting/sharing your art, commenting on others' art, suggesting doujinshi to be displayed on the MT front page, etc. are only the obvious ways -- and not the only ways -- to support doujinshi?
I'm here (and I'm out there in other places in this virtual space called MT and out there in that terrible/beautiful thing called the Offline World) because I support doujinshi and independent art. I talk to doujin artists and share with them some ideas on promoting doujinshi and artists, although they're kinda crazy/weird/seemingly-antagonistic to others, like the "MT Doujin Artists' Response to the MT Mascot" thing [which I'm sad to report that it's not going well because (1) I have yet to get responses from some people I PM'd on that; (2) others are too busy/committed with other work; (3) one commented that the project might be viewed that we don't accept the MT Mascot, if taken 'too seriously' (which I somewhat agree, too)'; (4) others have been taken aback by the deletions in their galleries due to the changes in the MT Policy re: 'deletion due to mature content' and 'minimum pixel requirements' that they lost the mood to contribute any more art to Minitokyo and subsequently lost the mood to do anything for the community; and (5) lol, maybe I'm forcing the issue too much and I should really ignore the whole "why weren't MT doujin artists given the chance to design the Mascot thing?" because (6) apparently many artists are also keeping mum/silent on it and they think it will just go away sooner or later because the Mascot thing seems to be just an insider-slash-'MT Top Level'-slash-income-generating-project instead of being community-involvement-oriented anyway and it seems to be not having a big impact on its artists; and so on so forth reasons I thought of and I got from the artists' reactions from my PM campaign, lol! But anyway, I'll try one last round to convince/bug people about it!] ... And I don't feel too presumptuous when I say/type that you guys are also here because you yourselves are supporters of independent art/doujinshi (lol, that's a bit circular, but hey!). By speaking your dreams, as speakers of dream, as weavers of images and words, as artists, you/we have decided to join this club because you/I wish to share your 'spoken dreams' with others, and talk about how to make that 'sharing' grow.
- song intermission! -
dare ni mo mienai yume no KATACHI o
tsukamaete tsukamaeteku
watashi wa tsuite yuku kara
atsui KIMOCHI
TSUJITSUMA awase betsuni iranai
arifureta nichijou yori mo
PARADISE mezashite hashire
Believe in Wonderland
- continue! -
Maybe... and these are just my opinions, please do contradict me if you don't agree with me or if you find it too weird... instead maybe of waiting for the people to come and appreciate indy art, maybe we ourselves would have to step up and find out and do ways to support doujinshi? "Diversifying and not just increasing? Growing sideways, not just upwards? Sharing in the creation of art, not just receiving praise for it?" I'd like to come back to an earlier proposal I made, which was to start forum threads/discussions on ways on how we can support doujinshi.
Hey, let's be proud in saying this -- we are all creative people! (lol, that sounded mushy, but really, it's mushingly true!) It's gonna be easy for us to identify, suggest and find out those ways! There might already be other people who are doing other ways of supporting doujinshi/indy art, be it here online or out there offline, right?
Lol, sorry if this sounds too arrogant/overbearing/presumptuous/preachy! Definitely not my intent. 'Looking forward to hear your thoughts on the "How can I, you and we support doujinshi?" thread/diversification of DSC activities proposal!
Anyway, I'll randomly end with a quote from an Ursula K. Le Guin essay titled "Where Do You Get your Ideas From?". To paraphrase, "All artists are egoists. They can't be altruists and get their work done." They/we love to be praised, to be seen, to be loved. Everyone wants to be noticed. Who doesn't? But then she adds, "... [the writer, the artist] cannot do it alone. The unread story [and the unseen or unshared art, in this case] is not a story, [and not art]. It is little marks on wood pulp [and magnetic imprints on computer storage devices projected as millions of colors on a computer screen, in our case]. The reader [and the viewer] makes it live: a live thing, a story, [art]." Shall we start finding out more ways to share, then?
C'mon minna-san! It doesn't take that much effort to vote, does it? Let's set a record for votes for this display!
I would
offer to tabulate the votes, but I am so code illiterate that I'd probably screw
up the page... 
I was uploaded some newest pic . hope you will see it
1 .Cover
cover by dothaithanh
2. Raito
welcome
Raito by dothaithanh
welcome
I think few people know about the vote and too lazy to vote (like me ^^") What can we do now to popularize this display?